Ella Louise Jenkins (August 6, 1924 – November 9, 2024) was an American singer-songwriter. Called “The First Lady of the Children’s Folk Song”, she was a leading performer of folk and children’s music. Her album, Multicultural Children’s Songs (1995), has long been the most popular Smithsonian Folkways release. She appeared on numerous children’s television programs and in 2004, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. According to culture writer Mark Guarino, “across her 67-year career, Jenkins firmly established the genre of children’s music as a serious endeavor — not just for artists to pursue but also for the recording industry to embrace and promote.”
A Life of Song: The Story of Ella Jenkins. The First Lady of Children’s Music was published by Gloo Books on February 1, 2024. The book is about the life of Ella Jenkins, who used music to fight racism and unite people. It is the first kids picture book published about the life of Ella Jenkins. Author Ty-Juana Taylor notes “Ms. Jenkins has used music as a tool to bridge and unite people across the world, especially in highly divisive times of the U.S. Civil Rights era.” Ella and the city of Chicago celebrated her 100th birthday and the books release On Sunday, August 4th, 2024 at her namesake Ella Jenkins Park in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood. The book is illustrated by Jade Johnson.
Jenkins was born into an African American family in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1924, and grew up in predominantly lower-middle-class neighborhoods in the south side of Chicago. Growing up in a family of Christian Scientists with eclectic musical tastes, she benefited from her rich musical surroundings although she received no formal musical training. Her uncle, Floyd Johnson, introduced her to the harmonica and the blues of such renowned musicians as T-Bone Walker, Memphis Slim, Little Brother Montgomery and Big Bill Broonzy. Her family frequently moved around the south side and, as she moved to different neighborhoods, she learned new children’s rhythms, rhymes and games. Gospel music became a part of her soundscape as neighborhood churches broadcast their services onto the street. She also enjoyed tap dancing lessons at the local theater and was able to go to the Regal Theater to see such performers as Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and Peg Leg Bates. Cab Calloway is the person who she credits with getting her interested in call and response singing.
While attending Woodrow Wilson Junior College, she became interested in the music of other cultures through her Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican friends. In 1951, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with minors in Child Psychology and Recreation from San Francisco State University. Here, she picked up songs of the Jewish culture from her roommates. Upon graduating, she returned to Chicago in 1951 where she began her career.
In Chicago, Jenkins began writing songs for children while volunteering in recreation centers. She subsequently was hired as a Teenage Program Director for the YWCA in 1952. While working at the YWCA, she was invited to perform on the Chicago public television show, The Totem Club. She was soon offered a regular job as the host of its Thursday program, which she entitled This is Rhythm. She invited guests from diverse cultures to share their music’s rhythms on her show.
In 1956, Jenkins decided to become a full-time musician. She began her career as a children’s musician touring school assemblies in the United States, often sleeping in a different place each night and encountering racial discrimination. As she performed in more varied venues, she began to write music about her experiences. Later that year Jenkins met American folklorist, educator and record producer Kenneth S. Goldstein at the Gate of Horn folk music club in Chicago. Goldstein recommended that she bring a demo tape to Moses Asch, the founder of Folkways Records. Asch was receptive to her music and in 1957, her first album, Call-And-Response: Rhythmic Group Singing, was released by Folkways. Since then, Folkways Records and, more recently, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings have released 39 albums, including the popular You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song. Her 1995 album Multicultural Children’s Songs is the most popular Smithsonian Folkways release to date. She has not only been an important force in children’s lives, but in the lives of parents and fellow music educators as well. She has participated in many conferences on music education, and has offered workshops for music educators, parents, and caregivers all over the world.
As a performer and educator, Jenkins traveled extensively, performing her songs on all seven continents (even Antarctica). As she travels, she shared her music and experiences and also learned about the cultures of the people she was visiting, taking with her musical traditions and languages that she then shared with her audiences. She also made television appearances on shows including NBC’s Today Show, CNN’s Showbiz Today, and PBS programs such as Barney & Friends, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, The Me Too Show, Look at Me, and in films shown on Sesame Street. She performed at America’s Reunion on the Mall in 1993, America’s Millennium Celebration in 2000, and at Smithsonian’s 150th Birthday Party on the Mall in Washington, DC in 1996. In collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she has acted as a U.S. delegate to Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China, and the former Soviet Union.
As a recording artist, Jenkins gained extensive recognition. Her recordings have received Parents’ Choice awards and two Grammy Award nominations in the category of Best Musical Album for Children.
In 2004, she was recognized with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Johnson’s final album, Camp Songs with Ella Jenkins and Friends, was released in 2017.
AWARDS:
* Grammy Nomination for Best Musical Album for Children for Ella Jenkins and a Union of Friends (1999)
* Award from the Music Educators National Conference “in appreciation of her support for music education and the National Association for Music Education” (2000)
* Grammy Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2004)
* Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from the Erikson Institute (2004)
* Inducted into the San Francisco State University Alumni Hall of Fame (2004)
* Grammy Nomination for Best Musical Album for Children for Sharing Cultures with Ella Jenkins (2005)
* Voted 2005 Chicagoan of the year by Chicago Magazine
* Fellow Award in Music from United States Artists (2009)
* National Endowment for the Arts Grant, with Illinois Arts Council matching grant
* Named Honorary Citizen of Louisville, KY, during The Year of the Child
* National Academy of Recordings Arts and Sciences, Chicago Chapter, Governor’s Award, contribution in children’s recording and performance
* Proclamation of Ella Jenkins Day (December 12) in Chicago, IL
* American Academy of Children’s Entertainment, Best Variety Performer Award
* American Library Association Award
* Fifth Star Award from the City of Chicago (2015)
* National Heritage Fellowship recipient (2017)
* The Ella Jenkins Park in Chicago was the site of a celebration of her 100th birthday.
* Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation (First recipient in the field of Children’s Music and the first woman selected for the honor) (1999)
On November 9, 2024, Jenkins died at an assisted living facility in Chicago; she was 100.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Jenkins
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Warning Signs of Suicide – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or if you want to discuss, call the old numbers at 800-273-TALK or 800-273-8255 for English and 888-628-9454 for Spanish. Learn the signs of someone who may be contemplating suicide.
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
November 2024
12: Agnes Buen Garnås, 78, Norwegian singer; Johnny Duhan, 74, Irish singer-songwriter (“The Voyage”), drowned; Roy Haynes, 99, American jazz drummer.
11: Papa Noël Nedule, 83, Congolese guitarist.
10: Pepe Justicia, 64, Spanish flamenco guitarist; Emre Tukur, 55, Turkish keyboardist (Klips ve Onlar).
9: Lou Donaldson, 98, American jazz saxophonist; Ella Jenkins, 100, American singer-songwriter; Ram Narayan, 96, Indian sarangi* player; George Wilkins, 90, American composer.
* The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked three-stringed instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Nepali folk music, Rajasthani folk music, Sindhi folk music, Haryanvi folk music, Braj folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the serja) – in Pakistan, South India and Bangladesh. It is said to most resemble the sound of the human voice through its ability to imitate vocal ornaments such as Gamaks or Gamakam (shakes) and meends (sliding movements). The Nepali sarangi is similar but is a folk instrument, unornate and four-stringed.
8: Musafir Ram Bhardwaj, 94, Indian musician; George Bohanon, 87, American jazz trombonist.
7: Kathleen Watkins, 90, Irish broadcaster, actress (Insurrection), and harpist.
6: Ivica Krajač, 86, Croatian composer and theatre director.
5: Lucien Francœur, 76, Canadian singer (Aut’Chose), poet, and radio presenter; Sharda Sinha, 72, Indian folk and classical singer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2024